Posted on 03/02/2015 4:20:54 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy
http://www.etherit.co.uk/month/2/02.htm
March 2nd, 1945 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Bermondsey, London: Mr. Albert Edward Heming (b.1910), Civil Defence Rescue, dug a trapped priest from the ruins of a bombed Catholic Church. (George Cross)
Minesweeper HMS Laertes commissioned.
IRISH SEA: At 1812, U-1302 attacked Convoy SC-167 in the St. George’s Channel and sank King Edgar and Novasli. The U-boat could not report her attack, because she was lost five days later. King Edgar was taken in tow, but sank later. Two crewmembers and two gunners were lost. The master, 32 crewmembers and nine gunners were picked up by frigate HMS Nysaland and landed at Milford Haven. Novasli in station #31 was abandoned after being torpedoed, only the master and four men stayed on board when she was taken in tow. But the ship could not be saved and had to be scuttled by an escort vessel with gunfire and depth charges. ASW trawler HMS Helier II picked up the survivors.
GERMANY: In two raids, 858 RAF bombers raid Cologne, and the German army starts to retreat from the Rhine.
Trier: General Patton’s tanks capture the Roman Bridge across the Moselle. They move so quickly that it is not blown up. The empty charge chambers are still visible today from the up-river side of the bridge.
U-2365 commissioned.
BALTIC SEA: M.575 Germans Minesweeper. Capsized off Oeresund. (James Paterson)
At 1316, U-995 attacked a Soviet Task Force with a Gnat and reported one escort sunk at 69.21N, 33.38E. The ship sunk was BO-224 (ex-USS SC-1507).
ROMANIA: Bucharest: Andrei Vishinsky, the stony-faced Soviet deputy foreign commissar, is imposing Stalin’s rule on Romania with a ruthlessness reminiscent of his behaviour as prosecutor at the Moscow show trials. Spurning the Allies’ protests, he has today ordered King Michael to dismiss the coalition Radescu government and appoint what amounts to a communist puppet regime.
BURMA: Naik Fazal Din (b.1921), 10th Baluch Regt., stormed one bunker, then was fatally stabbed by a Japanese officer while charging another. He pushed on, rallying his men brilliantly before collapsing. (Victoria Cross)
Naik Gian Singh (b.1920), 15th Punjab Regt., alone knocked out foxholes and an anti-tank gun, the led his men in clearing a Japanese-held road. (Victoria Cross)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: The American flag is raised again over Corregidor, with General Douglas MacArthur and members of his staff present. In a speech when he left Corregidor in 1942, MacArthur praised the gallant but futile defence of Corregidor as an inspiration to carry on the struggle until the Allies should fight their way back and vowed to return one day. On February 16, 1945, elements of the U.S. Sixth Army began the assault on Corregidor, and after furious fighting, MacArthur made good on his promise. (Michael Ballard)
BONIN ISLANDS: Iwo Jima: The second strip on South Field airfield had been graded to 4,000 feet for fighter operations.
U.S.A.: The motion picture “Dillinger” in released in the U.S. Directed by Max Nosseck and starring Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys, Lawrence Tierney and Elisa Cook, Jr., this film depicts the life and times of gangster John Dillinger. It is one of the best B movies of its kind and is nominated for one Academy Award.
Submarine USS Sea Leopard launched.
Destroyer USS Dennis J Buckley commissioned.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: 75 men died when U-3519 was lost, 3 men survived.
My father was a B-17 co-pilot in the 15th AAC. His 20th of 34 missions was the bombing of the oil refineries in Moosbiernaum, outside Vienna, as described on page 8.
In Farago’s biography of Patton he relates how Patton received a message from SHAEF telling Patton to bypass Trier as it would take 4 divisions.
Patton in his usual manner replies back that he has just taken Trier with two divisions, is he supposed to give it back.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S._Patton#Advance_into_Germany
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
There is a complete map for Army Group Vistula in the archives, and it most definitely is not pretty for the Germans. All of the action is in Pomerania between Stettin and Danzig, and I've broken it into four maps going from west to east. These maps cover the right wing of Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front and all of Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian Front as they clear Pomerania. The German maps have a lot of frantic pencil markings, showing a great deal of confusion and disorganization in a battle they are losing by a large margin. While the Germans are not surrendering en masse the way they are against the Americans in the west, they aren't putting up effective resistance here either. The rout is on.
I love that story.
Wow.
Love it.
In the map on Page Two of today’s Times there’s a large gap between Trier (which Patton, after taking it, was told he wasn’t supposed to take it (top-down management, even in war, can be pretty stupid sometimes)), and Cologne, way to the north. The map shows no major Allied operations in this gap. Maybe the Nazi’s missed an opportunity to at least prolong the war?
Page 4 NYT - Well, Patton’s killing Germans, leveling their towns, and delivering their babies. Wonder where Franklin Delano Ludwig is today.
I may be able to better answer your question tomorrow when I post the German Lage West situation map. There is one for March 3. But as a teaser; there are only about ten maps for the entire month of March, and none at all for April.
It’s all part of the disintegration of the Reich and its armed forces.
Any translation on the big scary comments?
The first map is pretty much unit identifications.
The second map: Warten auf Inf der 19. Armee bis zum Angriff is “Waiting for the Infantry of 19th Army to commence it’s attack.” Although it sure looks like Soviet 19th Army is already attacking.
The third map: 26. Armee eingeschoben. (Leztr 3. Ukr Front - 1. Front) (Armee aus 14. 2. B P, 23. 2 * 3 Ukr Front) is an intelligence summary that Germans believe the Soviets have inserted 26th Army into this sector. 26th Army was last confirmed as being in Malinovsky’s 3rd Ukrainian Front in Hungary on February14 but lost contact with it in that sector on February 23. They believe the Soviets have shifted it north to Pomerania.
This is consistent with what is happening across the eastern front. As the entire front narrows as the Soviets move west, some of the “Fronts” are squeezed out, and their commanders put on the shelf. Examples are Govorov’s Leningrad Front and Yeremenko’s 3rd Baltic Front. But the armies are made available to feed Konev, Zhukov and Rokossovsky’s forces for the final assault.
PS: My bad; Malinovsky commanded 2nd Ukrainian Front northwest of Budapest. Tolbukhin commanded 3rd Ukrainian Front from southwest of Budapest to the Yugoslav Border. Among the pecking order of Soviet generals, Malinovsky stands higher than Tolbukhin. I’m guessing that stripping Tolbukhin of his units is the Stavka’s way of telling Tolbukhin he’s not going to “liberate” Vienna, but instead it will be Malinovsky.
I almost - almost - began to feel sorry for the German dogfaces in the East fighting desperately for survival, but then I read the story about the Germans murdering the wounded American colonel left behind and the feeling went away.
The Russians’ ability to compress their forces across a smaller front will make for a swift end when the final blows fall.
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